Mallorca

Most people only know Mallorca as a destination for Mediterranean beach holidays. Yet its beauty has long attracted writers, musicians and artists. The beautiful monastery of Valldemossa was once home to Chopin and George Sand, and you can still see the piano on which he composed his Preludes, in the suite where the lovers stayed.

Spiritually this is a Catalan island with strong affinities with the Languedoc in France with which it once shared a monarch. And, in country areas, you’ll still find local speaking Mallorquín, a mixture of French, Spanish and Arabic.

On the west coast, the landscape is extraordinarily varied. Beaches have given way to a succession of rocky coves, cut out of dramatic often sheer cliffs, and a strip of mountains, the Tramuntana (960-1,445m), runs more or less parallel to the coastline, with many of its peaks less than 2 km from the sea. The air is heavy with the scent of wild thyme, wild garlic, and rosemary that grows as garriga on the mountain slopes.